'Where is India?' asks CM Kejriwal as states float global tenders for vaccines
New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the fact that the states are left to competing and fighting with one another in the international market for COVID vaccines portrays a "bad" image of India.
The Centre should procure the vaccines on behalf of the states, he said in the backdrop of a shortage of the vaccine doses in Delhi and many other states.
"Indian states left to compete/fight with each other in international market. UP fighting Maha, Maha fighting Orissa, Orissa fighting Delhi. Where is 'India'? Portrays such a bad image of India. India, as one country, shud procure vaccines on behalf of all Indian states (sic)," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo said in a tweet.
In another tweet, he said India approaching the vaccine-manufacturing countries will have much more bargaining power rather than the states doing it individually. The Indian government has much more diplomatic space to negotiate with such countries, the chief minister added.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the Delhi government has urged the Centre to cap the prices of COVID-19 vaccines and buy them from the international market rather than states doing it themselves.
In a meeting with Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan via video conference, Jain said he also asserted that the companies preparing the two vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — should share the formula with other firms to ramp up production. "The two companies preparing Covishield and Covaxin must share the formula with other companies to prepare the vaccines.
"It is widely known that India is home to the biggest and most prominent vaccine manufacturers in the world. Hence, a number of companies are capable of manufacturing and mobilising them into the market for the public," he told reporters.
In the meeting with Vardhan, Jain also highlighted how "the manufacturers of Covaxin and Covishield have considered this crisis to be an opportunity to generate high profits".
Elaborating about the numbers, Jain claimed that Covishield is being supplied to the Centre at Rs 150, and its manufacturing company chairman has stated on-record that they are incurring huge profits.
The company, he said, is manufacturing six crore vaccines every month. Even if we go by a profit of Rs 10 per dose, and they give half of the vaccines to the Centre, which is three crore, the estimated profit comes out to be Rs 30 crore.
Delhi's health minister said the same vaccine is being sold to the state governments at Rs 300, which means the profit doubles, while the cost of production remains the same.
Not only that, the same vaccine is being sold at Rs 400 to private entities, and the profit incurred goes up to Rs 260 per dose (considering that their cost of production would be Rs 140), he claimed. "By this entire estimation, the company generates a humongous profit of Rs 960 crore in just one month," he further said.
"India is home to a younger population, where more than 100 crore people are above the age of 18. And for these 100 crore people, we need at least 200 crore doses. If we take 100 crore doses from one company and the other 100 crore from another, both of them make a profit of Rs 16,000 crore each.
"Now, coming to Covaxin, which is supplying vaccines at an even higher rate, their profit would be higher than what the manufacturers of Covishield are making," he claimed.
